WASHINGTON, DC — As House Republicans vote today on their 45th closed rule of this session of Congress—shutting down the amendment process and excluding the American people’s voice from the legislative process—they will set a record for the most closed rules ever passed and will enter the history books as the most closed Congress in history. This dubious milestone comes in the face of pledges from Speaker Ryan to oversee a more open and inclusive debate process that includes input from all members, majority and minority. By excluding lawmakers from the legislative process, House Republicans are left to pursue a politically driven agenda instead of allowing for commonsense amendments that could actually achieve bipartisan agreement. This divisive approach has empowered the most extreme members of the Tea Party to pursue their radical agenda at all costs—an approach that has shut down the government, threatened our nation’s credit worthiness, and made partisan stalemate the new norm.

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark the breaking of a record, perhaps the worst kind of record: this has officially become the Most Closed Session of Congress in American history,” said Rep. Slaughter. “Today marks the 45th closed rule in this session of Congress and with each new closed rule that the Majority approves, we will break the record anew. Under a closed rule, no amendments are allowed on the House floor, which limits debate and silences half of the American people who are represented by the Minority of the House.”

“It is true that the trend toward more closed rules has been growing over the last 20 years—under the leadership of both political parties,” continued Rep. Slaughter. “But my Republican colleagues have taken this trend to new heights. The Republican Congress, for example, passed more closed rules in one week in October of 2013 than in an entire year under Democratic control.”

This trend of closing out alternative viewpoints from the legislative process goes against the admirable goals of openness and inclusion that Speaker Ryan laid out during his first week as Speaker:

 "I want the House to work its will. I think that's the way the founders envisioned it to work… The way I am trying to do this job is the way I always thought it should have been done and that is to make this a more open process… So that every citizen of this country through their elected representatives has the opportunity to make a difference. That is the people's House. This is the branch of government closest to the people… So I wanted to have a process that is more open, more inclusive, more deliberative, more participatory and that's what we're trying to do."

-Speaker Paul Ryan, Politico, November 5, 2015

John Boehner made strikingly similar promises as he ascended to the Speakership, before the extremists in the GOP conference started to overwhelm him:

“As the Chamber closest to the people, the House works best when it is allowed to work its will…I offer a commitment: Openness, once a tradition of this institution but increasingly scarce in recent decades, will be the new standard…you will always have the right to a robust debate in an open process that allows you to represent your constituents, to make your case, offer alternatives, and be heard.”

-Speaker John Boehner, House Floor, January 5, 2011

Today’s record-breaking closed rule governs debate over HR 511, the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act of 2015. With its passage, House Republicans will have approved 181 closed rules since they took control of the House in 2011, including 45 from this year alone. The previous record of 44 closed rules in a session was set by House Republicans in 2013.

House Republicans have also now passed more closed rules than all other rules combined, with 52 percent of all rules passed this year being closed. When Democrats last controlled the House, 34 percent of rules were closed.

Congresswoman Slaughter is the first woman in history to have chaired the powerful House Rules Committee. In the 113th Congress, she pushed back against the GOP’s closed process and called out Republicans for running the most closed Congress in history—a record not beaten until today.

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